Eurotunnel said a CO2 sensor had triggered an alarm, setting off an emergency procedure in which all passengers have to be evacuated.

Eurostar, which runs high-speed trains through the tunnel between London and Paris and Brussels, said its services had been suspended for a period.

Lines have since started to reopen, but passengers were told to expect delays.

Dover Calais Ferries have plenty of spare capacity at present, after having coped very well with the additional passengers following air line disruptions caused by the volcanic ash cloud.

“The traffic is resuming now, we have received authorisation from Eurotunnel,” a Eurostar spokeswoman told AFP news agency. “But we expect a knock-on effect on the schedule.”

Services in both directions were halted when the alarm was triggered in the tunnel shortly after 0700 BST (0800 GMT).

The nearest train, a shuttle carrying 30 lorries and drivers, was evacuated and taken back to the surface on the UK side.

Emergency services from Kent were called.

Nigel Shamber, duty inspector at Kent Police, said: “They have an awful lot of sensors in the tunnel and one of them went off. These things happen very frequently.

“There has not been a fire or any significant incident. Trains are now running in a reduced capacity.”

A Eurotunnel spokeswoman said: “The freight train was travelling towards England and was more than half-way through the tunnel when it was stopped.

“Emergency services are trying to work out why the detector went off. We need to understand why it happened.”

Nine Eurostar trains were delayed by between 50 minutes and three hours, French state rail operator SNCF said. Services leaving Paris, London and Brussels were all hit.

Technorati Tags: Calais, channel, Dover, dover calais ferries, Eurostar, Eurotunnel, ferries, Kent, London, Paris, shuttle

There is a bus running between the ferry port and the station of Calais Ville, (free or for a little money, I paid €1,50, English money was also accepted.)
From Calais you can take the train to Amsterdam, it will take about 5.30 hours.
I find it hard to find the cost.
The German railplanner in English found the times above, using trains without needing reservations, but it can not find the price as no part of the journey is in Germany.
The Dutch system does not sell tickets to Calais, (so do buy your return ticket before coming to the Netherlands, you can also not buy them on the stations here.)

The French site can give times and prices, but they only do it with the Thalys as part of the trip, which means that at Lille you have to walk from one station to an other. (About 10 minutes walk) and you have to book for a particular train, (much harder to do.)
Prices for tickets tomorrow are about €70, you will find them cheaper when you book longer before the travel.
I do not get the impression that this connection will be much faster than the ‘slow’ one, specially not if you have to book later to make sure you do not miss the train for which you have a reservation.
The Belgium rail planner is also able to find the connection without fast trains, and as such without reservations needed, but will not sell the tickets for it, (not even from Calais to Antwerp.)

If you want to travel that way, best just take the ferry and buy a ticket at the station (hoping you can buy it all the way to Amsterdam,) and just ask at the station which train you can use with that ticket.

I have traveled from Amsterdam to Calais, but on an InterRail pass, so I do not know the price.
I also searched for trains from Southampton and Portsmouth to France, but found the results not very useful for travel towards the north.

Alternatively you can travel to London and on to Harwich, and take the ferry from there, but I doubt that will be better for you.

PS, Hook of Holland to Amsterdam takes 1.45 hours, not 0.20 hours as one of the other answerers wrote. Maybe even more, but with less effort, if there still is a boat train.

Technorati Tags: amsterdam, Antwerp, belgium, bus, Calais, Dover, ferry, ferry port, france, germany, Holland, InterRail, interrail pass, Lille, London, money, portsmouth, railplanner, Southampton, thalys, the Netherlands, travel